The growing trend of governments, large and small, around the U.S. attempting to limit free speech and hide protesters away has arrived on campus at Florida State University.
Students protesting FSU's refusal the Worker's Rights Consortium, a sweatshop monitoring group, were arrested for protesting in a tent city in front of the school's administration building. After the arrests, the students were relocated to a "Free Speech Zone" in a remote quad, where they are safely out of sight, and out of mind.
FSU's president, Talbot D'Alemberte, defends the arrests by saying that, "I've read the First Amendment pretty carefully, and I don't see any mention of tents." I guess by his interpretation music, movies, art, dancing, theatre, and other means of expression would also not be protected.
I'm not advocating trespassing, but FSU students who want to protest, wouldn't necessarilly be trespassing on school grounds. The students have the right to protest and have their voices heard, not blocked away from the schools's administration. As ong as they don't harass people with legitimate business at the building, they should be allowed to stay, but their presence was an embarassment to D'Alemberte, so he had them moved.
This is part of a trend started in Seattle for the WTO meeting and continued elsewhere for all sorts of events, where protesters are kept not only away from those they are protesting, but the media as well.
Free speech and the right to assembly are two of the cornerstones of American democracy. If governments are allowed to limit them in this manner, no effective protests can be made at any level. Requiring permits and having guidelines for durations and size of protests are one thing, as are police presence in the case of violence, or for traffic control, but sequestering protesters is something else entirely.